I have noticed quite a few horses (especially TB's, but then again that's mainly what I shoe) seem to land laterally first. When I look down the long axis, they are high laterally.

So I trim them to what I think is level and correct, by lowering the outsides, and they land flat.

4 weeks later and they are landing laterally, and high laterally. Shoe wear is even, breaking over the lateral toe.

So my question is, is the horse trying to tell me something here, is it natural for these particular animals for whatever reason to want to be slightly higher laterally? Perhaps their conformation ( I haven't looked further at this yet) warrants or dictates it?

Lateral Landing First ,means that the Hoof First touches the Ground on Area First ?
For me Balance is important and at the Moment the Hoof is loaded .
In a Straight line Most Horses Land First on the lateral heel,Break down on the lateral Side before the Full load comes .
The lateral growth is mostly due to Horse placing more Weight on the medial heel when the Day is Long .

Seems for me to Be a Balance Fight to get the Hoof back to the Middle that Never Stops what Ever the so called imbalance is .

A lot of guys my self included around hear will barefoot a horse that seems to be out of balance for a while and see how they wear. Personally he they have miner variance or are young ill try to correct it but if their older or rally off I tend to shoe to the way they are built.They seem more comfortable and move better. Probably catch he'll for posting that but it works for the horses I see.

ray tyron wrote:
If the majority of your shoes are not resettable, they should have sufficeint wear to indicate what the horse needs. So why do you have to leave them barefoot to know what adjustments are needed.

cuttinshoer wrote:
every horse I do will not fit in the same mold or do the same job or live in the same conditions so once in a while I have to do something different. Occasionally I evan think for my self instead of jumping on a band wagon. You might try it some time

ray tyron wrote:
Most horses in any kind of work will show enough wear in one shoeing cycle to make the neccessary adjustments. Don't think to hard your head mght explode.:p


What bandwagon am I riding on, just want to figure out where I am going.

It's even, not evan.

Matt do you work on your own? We sometimes look at each others trims and assess feet, its quite interesting sometimes others opinions. I feel that if a horse is landing lateral first then it will drag the medial heel upwards and inwards making the view down the long axis look high again, it becomes a cycle. Trim the foot with an even trim let it stand and then reassess and see how it looks. Another problem from lateral landing is a lateral toe flare, which can open up the elbow, again pulling the medial heel up and in. A good radius in the toe will also allow the horse to break over evenly and travel straighter and grow straighter. Tb's in plates is a nightmare especially in the winter!!! the feet are like plastercine

david a hall wrote:

Hi David, thanks for your input. I don't quite understand what you mean by dragging the medial heel in and up. Do you mean shunting? If not could you elaborate please?

Its interesting what you say about lateral toe flares, as the horses in question do have these somewhat. The hoof wall is straight from floor to coronet (ie not 'flared' in the true sense) but at a very slightly flatter angle than the medial toe quarter. And I've also noticed they appear to toe out when stationary, but if I were to pull the leg forward and let it hang freely, looking down the cannon bone, they appear to turn in at the fetlock:confused:

I have this issue all over the map. One particular Cushingoid, very aged Arabian gelding grows high inside hind quarters and if you leave them he travels poorly. Lower them and he widens behind and tracks much better. He is a second level dressage horse and his owner is very tuned in to his gait. His shoes wear quite evenly during this grow out event. My Saddlebred gelding has a grade one club on the right fore that if he is trimmed level becomes lame. Leave him high inside and he is happy. I usually try for medial to lateral balance and then adjust to the needs of the horse. In general, I don't usually let the horse totally dictate how I trim him by his wear and growth. The majority of the horses I see have quite a bit of pathology and require much assistance since they usually can't manitain a good hoof structure. As I continue to trim for better 'fit to the horse' I get an improved hoof structure and a happier horse. At least, it happens most of the time until I get that 'out of the box' horse that brings me back to rethinking for their particular case.

M. W. Myers, D.V.M.

mwmyersdvm wrote:If you have to trim the foot un level then i would recommend drawing the shoe down, then look at the next shoeing visit. there is nothing like photgraphing it and having it stare you in the face on a screen

david a hall wrote:
Is the foot unlevel, I think this subject is kinda like the breakover debate, as no one can really make there mind up on a true definition. Everyone says trim the foot flat or level. Flat or level to what?

cuttinshoer wrote:
When i look down a foot i know if it is level, i know if its flat.

cuttinshoer wrote:
I have kept the horse barefoot as he is basically a pasture pet right now. His coronet band is unlevel with the ground surface and not at right angles to his cannon axis plus his wall sits above his sole plane as well. He is tricky to trim and I need to get current radiographs of him but I have a friend keeping him right now and her generator at the stables won't power my xray unit.

M. W. Myers, D.V.M.

mwmyersdvm wrote:
My comments were not directed at you or David, or the horse your working on.

Everyone says flat and level. Well flat and level to what? t-square, sole plane, landing, loading , etc. It is a vaque term IMO much like breakover it has no real definition.

david a hall wrote:
Flat and level to what?

What is the difference between a few rasp strokes on a foot or a few hammer blows to a branch of a shoe. The end product either way would be so called unlevel. If the GRF are consistent across the foot is it really unlevel.